Crime news

They weren't fingerprints but DNA left behind in a ski mask has resulted in Memphis Police charging a Memphis man Monday with aggravated robbery.

Andrew Carter, 22, is accused of robbing the Family Dollar store at 6415 Raines Road at gunpoint on Dec. 10, 2010 at 9:25 p.m. Police arrested Carter on Monday afternoon.

The affidavit claims that Carter pulled a black ski mask over his face as he approached the cashier. He is accused of putting a gun to the cashier's head and forcing her to her knees while he opened the register with a crowbar and took all the cash. No specific amount was given on how much was taken. Police recovered both the crowbar and the ski mask at the scene.

In February 2011, investigators brought Carter to the robbery bureau. He consented to submit a DNA sample. Police released him from custody a day later, the affidavit said, when several employees failed to identify him from a photo lineup.

It wasn't until January this year that his DNA sample, along with the ski mask and crowbar, were taken to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation lab and submitted for comparison. The affidavit said the results came back on June 15 that Carter's DNA matched the DNA from the ski mask.

Carter is scheduled to appear in General Sessions court at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Midtown

Man charged in alleged ax attack

A Midtown man was arrested Saturday night after being accused of wielding axes and a shotgun in a racially motivated attack against his neighbors.

Police responded to the area of North Watkins and Madison, where they were told the man was threatening to kill several African-Americans in the neighborhood and shouting racial slurs. Witnesses also told police that during several confrontations between the man and his neighbors, he threw two axes and pointed a shotgun at them, according to a police affidavit.

No injuries were reported in the incident.

Officers recovered the axes used in the attack, according to the affidavit.

Police reported that after the man was arrested, he continued using racial slurs and said he was going to kill his black neighbors after getting out of jail.

Robbie Poteete, 51, was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and four counts of civil rights intimidation.

His bond was set at $75,000.

Poteete has been found guilty of harassment and assault causing bodily harm in the past, according to court records.